Episode 2

Amara stood glaring outside the window. "If only I could flee from these walls," she thought. Then the door swung open. Ikeh walked in, Ifesinnachi followed suit.

"My husband, please don’t force her," Ebere said as she stared from the door.

"Get out!" Ikeh turned to her and she scurried out.

Amara gazed as Ikeh and Ifesinnachi went to sit. She crossed her leg over the other. Amara went before them and knelt down, "Good morning, Sir Ikeh."

"Get up! I don’t want to waste my time. I’m heading somewhere and I want to be as nice as possible!" He said and Amara nodded. She glanced at Ifesinnachi and she glared.

"Your song “Butterfly” which was released last week is reaching 1M listeners on Spotify, all thanks to my beautiful daughter Ifesinnachi!" Ikeh smiled.

"Dad is really nothing more than me being me."

"So I have called you to get her ready for the show and a major interview."

"Dad... sorry Sir Ikeh, can I.."

"Sorry Pamper, we don’t want to hear that. You teach me so I can perfect on the lines."

"Please Ifes... I want to.."

"Don’t even mention that! I’m not ready to bury any corpse. You have Xeroderma Pigmentosum and you know what that means." Ikeh said.

Amara nodded, "If I ever step outside, I’ll die in minutes!"

“ Stay at your place then..you should be grateful for us.” Ifesinachi said.

****

Jachimma sat on the Uber. His phone beeped, he slided it and placed it on his ear. "Hey man!" he said,

"I stopped by your house and your dad said you were gone. What happened?"

“ Obi..” he groaned, "Long story short, I took some money from his secretary and I invested it wrongly. He got pissed and disowned me."

"Where are you right now? You're still in the states?"

"I'm home trying to chase my dream."

"Wait... you're in Nigeria?"

"Yep..house hunt," he said and stretched his palm to the Uber. The Uber man took the paper in his palm and stared at the address. "Talk to you later," he said.

The car pulled to a halt abruptly. "What's wrong?" he said and stared out at the lonely street. "Nothing much , Sir. I'll fix it shortly!" The Uber man said and went to the engine.

He scrolled on his phone until the door opened. A man stood before him. He wore a black mask on his head. He raised his t-shirt and a pistol sat deep on his trouser. Jachima's eyes widened.

*******

Chika stopped but she ran towards her and wrapped her arms around her. "Hapu mu Aka..." she said and struggled to leave then she perceived the cologne. "Arike?" she added.

"It took you a long time to realize it was me," Arike said and laughed, then she took the hood off her face.

Chika pushed her playfully. "You made my heart race!"

"So my troublesome Chika can get scared. Wow, never saw that coming."

"So where are you coming from dressed like a man?" Chika asked.

"I went to the neighboring village, there's a good photographer there and as you know I have to take good shots for my Instagram followers."

"Chai, my friend's turned into a celebrity now and knows all the photographers." She said and her cheeks went red.

"Where are you coming from?"

"Mama sent me to get beads for Adaeze’s hair. Thanks to you, I have wasted enough time, I've got to run..." she said and took off.

Chika ran until she got to the front gate. Ngozi stood there, her back resting on the gate. Chika stared at her, "Mama... I can explain."

"Don't worry this.." She took out a black whip, "will understand your explanations. Now get inside!" She snarled

They walked into the sitting. "You are now becoming too beautiful. That's why I can't send you on errands and you return quickly. These boys & men won't let you rest."

"Nne, I'll never do it again."

"Don't you ever call me that, now take off your clothes."

A tear fell off Chika's eyes as she let her dress slip off her body. Ngozi raised her arm and landed the whip on her back. Chika screamed as her skin opened up for blood. Tears fell from her eyes.

"You stupid child, stand there!! Where are you running to?" Ngozi snarled, her face squeezed.

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